Financial analysis system interface

ABSTRACT

A user interface provides a financial analysis system for real time monitoring of market conditions for a portfolio of stocks or other financial instruments. The interface presents three unique panels, which, upon selection by the user, provide different representations of data with respect to the portfolio or a selected portion of the portfolio. The user can rapidly cycle among these panels by activating icons. Further, the user can quickly retrieve additional data for a given stock from any of a variety of user-selectable sources by activating additional icons.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to financial analysis systems and, moreparticularly, to financial analysis systems which receive data in realtime from external sources and which manipulate and display that data ina variety of forms. As used herein, the term “real time” should beunderstood to include contemporaneous data, as well as data which may infact be delayed for relatively brief intervals, e.g., on the order oftwenty minutes or so. The invention is particularly applicable to thereceipt, processing and display in real time of market information withrespect to a portfolio of financial instruments such as stocks, bonds,mutual funds, etc. For ease of explanation, the invention will bedescribed with specific reference to stocks, but should be understood asbeing applicable to financial instruments in general.

An example of a financial analysis system that has found wideapplication by professional traders for portfolio and risk trackinganalysis is the EXPO™ Real-Time Analytics package that has beendeveloped by the assignee of the present invention. This package offerssophisticated capabilities for applying econometric and financialanalysis to various types of monetary instruments, including stocks,bonds, and currencies, among others. For example, parameter estimation,forecasting, classification, and hypothesis testing can readily beperformed by the user with the aid of predefined functions incorporatedinto the system. Unique user-defined functions can readily be added bythe user by means of the built-in programming language. A more detaileddescription of the preexisting EXPO™ system is set forth more fully inthe accompanying manual of appendix A entitled “Getting Started WithExpo” which is incorporated herein by reference.

An important feature of financial analysis systems is the userinterface. Menu selection of functions plays an important role in mostsuch systems. This form of selection is nearly universal, but slowsaccess to data or presentations when the user desires to switch datasources or views. Some systems allows limited rapid switching betweenselected elements by clicking a mouse, but none is known which employsthis approach with entire portfolios of instruments. For example, in theEXPO™ system, a user that desires to obtain a Charts View of aparticular stock can do so by entering the name or symbol of the stockin a window or by dragging the symbol for the stock onto an availablechart window. When Charts Views of several stocks are desired, thisprocess becomes time-consuming, especially when the user may wish toswitch back and forth between numeric and Charts Views.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The EXPO™ Real-Time Analytics package has been found highly useful inthe market, and has been adopted by a number of major brokerage housesand investment advisors, among others. However, like all good products,it can nonetheless be improved and the present invention does that.

In particular, in accordance with the present invention, I provide animproved interface that displays to the user a panel of selectedinformation with respect to a portfolio of stocks. This panel, referredto herein as the Monitors View™ panel, displays in alpha-numeric form alimited amount of important data for a selected group of instruments,e.g., stocks. The data for the panel is presented in a number ofwindows, one for each stock, and typically includes the stock symbol,latest price, change from some prior price (e.g., the preceding day'sclose), and percentage change, among other items. The amount of data ina window of the panel depends on the width of the individual windows asselected by the user. In an exemplary instance described below, thereare, for example, four windows placed side-by-side and several of thesegroups are arranged vertically as well, for a total of sixteen windows,each of which may display data for a different stock. The panel displayand its associated menu and other function bars may occupy the entirescreen, or only part of a screen, with a separate application such asword processing in the remainder.

The data in each window is updated in real time from sources selected bythe user. These sources may comprise contract-services such as theBloomberg® data feed, accessed through dial-up connection over atelephone line via a modem, or may comprise other sources accessibleonly over the Internet, e.g., Yahoo®, MSNBC®, etc. With the latter, thetype and scope of data may be greatly expanded, and its cost may begreatly reduced.

Corresponding to the Monitors View™ panel, I have further provided aCharts View™ panel of similar form, but presenting data for the selectedstocks in the form of charts. As was the case with the Monitors View™panel, the size of each of the charts is determined by the number andarrangement of the individual windows of the panel. The data in thewindows is a time-sequence of, for example, the price performance of astock over a period of time, and is updated in real time as describedhereinafter. Despite the fact that multiple charts are presented in thisview, the user can perform a variety of functions and analyses on thesecharts as if only a single chart were being displayed. For example,moving averages may be added to any of the charts; ratios of one chartto another may be taken and displayed; etc.

A valuable feature of the present invention is the provision of means torapidly switch between the Monitors View™ and Charts View™ panels. Thisis particularly important for professionals such as brokers andinvestment advisers who may closely track a group of stocks throughoutthe day and for whom the differing views serve different needs atvarious times throughout the day. In accordance with the presentinvention, this is accomplished by means of a single mouse click on anicon designated for that purpose. By this means, the user can instantlychange between the differing views of a portfolio to examine the view heor she deems most appropriate for the moment.

A further valuable feature of the invention is the provision of rapidaccess to additional information with respect to the stocks in thepanels. In particular, I have greatly enlarged the amount and type ofinformation that is made available to the user, and facilitated rapidaccess to it. In accordance with the present invention, the user isprovided the ability to rapidly access differing content, such as news,concerning a particular stock; a capsule summary of the stock; analysts'ratings of the stock; financial and other research done on the stock;message boards discussing the stock; and quotes on the stock fromvarying sources, among other possible items of data. In contrast to manyprior systems, the added information need not all be provided from thesame source, such as Bloomberg, as is commonly done. Rather, the usermay designate one source for its news information, another for capsulesummaries of the company underlying the stock, still another foranalysts' ratings on the stock, etc. Once the initial designation ismade, retrieval is transparent to the user.

Additionally, I have provided a further display that accommodates users'desire for fast access to information concerning stock prices even whenthe user is working in, and wishes to remain in, another application notnecessarily related to financial analysis. This display, called hereinthe Market Bar™ view, is positioned on the screen at a locationdetermined by the user and provides selected data on from one to several(e.g., ten) stocks selected by the user. The amount of data presentedfor each changes in inverse relation to the number of stocks selectedfor presentation. Thus, in one example, the user may select three stocksfor continuous presentation on his or her screen as long as the screenis energized. As was the case with the Monitors View and Charts Viewpanels, data concerning these stocks is updated in real time fromsources selected by the user.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improvedinterface for financial analysis systems.

Further, it is an object of the invention to provide an improvedinterface that enables presentation of significant information invarious forms concerning a group of financial instruments.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide an improvedinterface that facilitates retrieval and display of data in financialanalysis systems.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved interface forfinancial analysis systems that significantly expands the variety oftypes of data that may quickly be accessed from differing presentationviews within the system.

Yet a further object of the invention is to enable rapid interchangebetween differing forms of data presentation in financial analysissystems.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT

The foregoing and other and further objects and features of theinvention will be more readily understood on reference to the followingdetailed description of the invention, when taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a display comprising an interface in the form of a MonitorsView panel in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of facilities for rapid informationretrieval from the interface of FIGS. 1 and 3;

FIG. 2A is an illustration of assignment of data preferences inaccordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a display comprising an interface in the form of a Charts Viewpanel in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an expanded view of a chart selected from FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is display comprising an interface in the form of a Market Barpanel in a accordance with the invention;

The present invention is intended for use a part of a financial analysissystem which operates on a local computer at which the user is locatedand which communicates with remote sources of data to provide real-timeupdating of data. The source data for the updates are typically locatedon a variety of separate computer systems linked through the telephonesystem to form a vast computer network. The most common such network iscommonly known as “the Internet” or “the web”, and the invention will bedescribed in that context, although it will be understood that it is notso limited and may be used with remote data sources of any type.Further, for ease of explanation, it is assumed that the user isoperating the system with a mouse having a cursor to designate an itemand a button which can be clicked to select it. It will be understoodthat other selectors such as keypads, digitizer tablets, and the likecan be used instead.

Turning now specifically to FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of afinancial analysis system in accordance with the present inventionincludes a display 10 for presentation on a video monitor under controlof a digital processor system such as a personal computer running theWindows® operating system, although the invention is not so limited. Theinterface may occupy the entire display area of the video screen, or itmay occupy only a portion of it, as determined by the user. Theinterface includes a status bar 12 which identifies the specific screenbeing displayed at a particular instant, and which has the usual Windows“minimize”, “open” and “close” buttons 12 a, 12 b, 12 c. It further hasa main menu bar 14 that contains a number of symbols such as “File”,“Edit”, “Data”, “Chart”, “Studies”, “Window”, “Views”, “Draw”, “Custom”,and “Help” that enable the user to select among a wide variety offunctions for further action by clicking a mouse button or otherselector on the appropriate menu item. When clicked-on (“activated”,“selected”), each main menu item typically displays a plurality ofsub-menu items, which themselves are activated by clicking on them, theresult being the performance of an action or the display of furthersub-menus. For example, activation of the “Studies” button enables oneto select a variety of financial functions for calculation with the dataof a particular chart being displayed, e.g., moving averages,directional oscillators, volatility indicators, and a variety of others.This aspect of the display of FIG. 1 is known and specifically is usedin the EXPO™ financial analysis system described above; accordingly itneed not be described in further detail.

Below the main menu bar 14 is an icon bar 16 divided into a plurality ofbuttons 18 that can be activated by clicking on them. When activated, ablock 18 a establishes a new worksheet. A block 18 b is used to quicklyopen previously stored files. A block to 18 c stores the current dataview, while a block 18 d prints the current data view. Block 18 eprovides access to a variety of differing charts that may be used todisplay the data of interest, while block 18 f enables enlargement ofselected areas of a chart. Blocks 18 g define the intervals at whichdata from a time series will be shown on a chart, e.g., at 1, 5, 15, or30 minute intervals. Typically a number of other intervals will beprovided in addition or in replacement, such as 1-day, 1-week, etc.

Block 18 h provides access to several aspects of the enhancedfunctionality provided by the present invention. In particular, block 18h provides for retrieval and presentation of various specific types ofinformation when one of the buttons comprising this block is activated.Thus, news concerning a particular stock is retrieved and presented whenthe “News” button is activated; a brief summary of the underlying issueris obtained when the “Capsule” button is activated; stock analystsratings are obtained via the “Ratings” button; analysts research on aparticular stock is quickly retrieved when the “Research” button isactivated; bulletin board messages and other gossip is retrieved whenthe “Messages” button is activated; and quotes from various marketmakers are retrieved when the “Quote” button is activated. Each of thesefunctions is selectable when a particular stock is identified asdescribed more fully below.

A selector bar 20 provides a window 22 into which the user may enter aparticular stock for viewing. Data concerning the stock will bedisplayed in the window identified at 26, here, window 1 (“W1”). Thewindow in the data will be displayed may be changed by clicking on theindicator 26 and manually entering the window desired for displaying thedata for the stock identified in window 22. A window scroll indicator 24scrolls through a list of stocks available for selection, and the usermay select one of the stocks from this list for display.

Icons 20 a, 20 b, and 20 c on selector bar 20 enable rapid switchingbetween differing panel views. Activating icon 20 a by clicking on itcauses the display of the Market Bar panel; activating icon 20 b causesdisplay of the Monitors View panel; and activating icon 20 c causesdisplay of the Markets View panel. These are described more fully below.The switching could also be performed through use of one of the Window'sicons 12 a, 12 b, 12 c.

A panel of windows 28 provide the specific data display for the stocksselected to comprise the particular display. For purposes ofillustration, twelve windows 28 are shown, of which eleven are occupied.Each window provides certain basic information concerning the stock itis displaying. For example, considering window 28, there is indicated at28 a the name of the window and the stock it is displaying (e.g., W1:NDXfor the NASDAQ Exchange Index); at 28 b the latest value of the index(or, in the case of a stock, the price of the stock); at 28 c the changein value or price from a prior reference point (e.g., the prior day'sclosing); and at 28 d the percentage change in value or price. Theamount of data presented in each individual window 28 is dependent onthe width allowed for each window, and thus on the number and placementof windows as selected by the user. If, for example, the windows 28 inFIG. 1 are readjusted to present two windows side-by-side and occupyingthe entire width of the screen; as opposed to three as shown, additionalinformation will be presented in the respective windows.

As noted above, the financial analysis system in which the display 10 ispresented is connected to one or more sources of data, typically toseveral different sources. Thus, a first source provides the currentprice information for display in the windows 28. This source may alsoprovide the price change and percentage change data, or these may becalculated by the system itself from data stored in a cache internal tothe system after its retrieval from the first source. Additionally, thesame or other sources provide data for the buttons 18 h. Thus, a userwho desires further, more detailed information on one of the stocksdisplayed on display 10 first clicks on the window designator for aparticular one of the stocks displayed (e.g., “W4:MSFT”) to select thatstock, and then clicks on one of the buttons 18 h to obtain furtherdetailed information in one of the categories designated in 18 h, e.g.,“News”, “Capsule”, etc. Each of these buttons, when activated byclicking, causes the financial analysis system to activate a web browseron the user's computer if it is not already activated, and to provide tothe browser a URL that takes the user directly to the source of thedesired information in accordance with selections previously made by theuser. In accordance with the invention, the URL is constructed orassembled in part from syntactic data specific to the given data sourceto be utilized and stored in the interface system, and in part from dataspecific to the stock selected for further data or informationreporting. The browser transmits this URL onto the Internet and fetchesthe requested data for display on the user's display. In the event thatthe user has not previously selected a specific source for theparticular item of data (e.g., “News”), the financial analysis systemsupplies a default source.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart summarizing this process. From a window in whichthe Instant Data buttons 18 h are presented together with selectorwindows for one more stocks (as will be seen shortly, there are severalsuch displays) the user selects a particular stock (step 30) to make itthe “active” stock for that display if it has not already beenactivated. He or she then next selects, e.g., by clicking, (step 32) oneof the Instant Data buttons 18 h. This causes assembly of the URL totake place in the underlying financial analysis system. Specifically,the syntax of each of the Instant Data sources 18 h is stored in memory36. For example, for information as to a particular stock on the Yahoonews section, the URL syntax is http://www.biz.yahoo.com/n/<tickerinitial>/<ticker symbol>.html. The stock-independent portion of thissymbol, http://www.biz.yahoo.com/n/ is stored in URL memory 36 and theremaining portion, m/msft.html, as particularized by selection of aspecific stock in step 30, is appended to the stored syntax stub to forma complete URL 37. This URL is then passed to the web browser 38 whichretrieves the desired data and passes it (41) to the financial analysissystem for display (step 42).

As noted above, the sources to which the browser is directed by theInstant Data buttons 18 h is determined in the first instance by theuser who may select among all sources available to him or her for any ofthe data requests. Thus, the user may designate Yahoo® as the source foreach of the items associated with the Instant Data buttons; or may mixthem in any manner desired, e.g., choosing Yahoo® as the data source for“News”; MSNBC® as the source for “Capsule” summaries; and so forth.These sources may all be on the Internet; may all be on some othernetwork; may all be available only by point-to-point connection; or maybe accessed through a combination of sources. In any event the data ismade instantly accessible to the user in real time withouttime-consuming access procedures on his or her part and withoutdistraction from focusing on the data being presented.

FIG. 2 shows a submenu provided to the user for such choices. In FIG.2A(1), to the user may select any of the listed (for example) sourcesfor each of the Data items 18 h. Alternatively, in the sub-menu of FIG.2A(2), the user may tailor the individual data items to differingsources as best suits his or her preferences. This provides a powerfulmeans of data consolidation to the user.

As will be noted from the above, unlike typical financial analysissystems which obtain data only from restricted or subscription sourcessuch as Bloomberg®, the present system enables use of widely availabledata sources which are offered over the Internet free of charge. Thus,the tools of a financial analysis package such as EXPO® can be accessedby users who do not have, or for whom it is not practical to contractfor, access to Bloomberg® and other financial and business data sources.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a display 50 has a status bar 12′; a main menu14′; an icon bar 16′; and a selector bar 20′ that correspond to thesimilarly-numbered items in FIG. 1 and that perform in a similar manner.In place of the Monitors View windows 28 of FIG. 1, however, the displayof FIG. 2 has a corresponding plurality of windows 52 which display asmall-scale chart of the stocks displayed in the Monitors View panel;this view will be referred to herein as the Charts View panel. The sizeof the charts is determined by the number of charts to be displayed andby the area allowed for their display. Both of these characteristics areunder the control of the user.

For each chart, the wide array of functionality previously provided bythe under-lying financial analysis system is available for applicationto the data on the respective charts even when presented in collectiveor portfolio form such as in FIG. 2. For example, the data may beanalyzed by “Studies” such as moving averages, directional movementindicators, oscillator analysis, etc.; “Risk” calculations such as valueat risk, sensitivities, and the like may be determined; and otherfunctions may be applied.

Further, as was the case in connection with the display of FIG. 1, auser may obtain more detailed information as to a desired stock byclicking on the name of the stock in one of the windows 28 to highlightor “activate” it, and by then clicking on one of the Instant Databuttons 18 h to retrieve the desired information; or by entering thesymbol for a stock in the window 22′, either directly or by means of theselector button 24′. The requested data is then retrieved in the mannerdescribed in connection with FIG. 2.

In accordance with a further feature of the present invention, the usercan quickly switch between the various panels provided herein, i.e., theMonitors View panel, the Charts View panel, and the market Bar panel byclicking on a single one of buttons provided therefor, i.e., buttons 20a-20 c in FIG. 1; buttons 20′a-20′c in FIG. 2; or buttons 20″a-20″c inFIG. 5. Thus, at each moment, the user can follow the designatedportfolio of stocks with the view that provides the most appropriateform and depth of information presentation at a given time. The abilityto rapidly switch panels is particularly important for active orprofessional traders who can thereby track price movements in theirportfolio in real time via the Monitors View panel, then quickly switchto the Charts View panel to place the price movements in context.Further, from either of these panels, they can rapidly retrieveadditional data such as news, possible changes in analysts' ratings, andthe like, simply by selecting a particular stock in either panel (e.g.,by clicking on it) and then clicking on the desired data source.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a user can obtain an enlarged chart of a givenstock by clicking on the given chart in the display of FIG. 3. Thisbrings up an enlarged version to of that chart as shown in FIG. 4, inwhich the status bar 12″, main menu 14″, icon bar 16″, and selector bar20″ correspond to those of similar numbers in FIGS. 1 and 2. Anidentifier bar 60 displays the name or symbol of the stock being viewed,as well as current data concerning it, e.g., price, price change,percentage price change. An enlarged window 62 presents a chart of thestock itself. From this display also the user may instantly obtainadditional data on the stock by clicking on one of the Instant data bars18″, as was the case with the displays of FIGS. 1 and 3. Thus, whateverthe view the user has chosen, he or she may instantly access additionaldata concerning a particular stock through the Instant Data buttons.

The displays of FIGS. 1 through 3 typically occupy a substantial portionof the usual display screen available to the user, and may occupy theentire screen at the option of the user. This is particularly the casewith the professional financial worker, whose principal focus throughoutthe day is on the type of presented on these displays. In many cases,however, the user may be focused primarily on other matters, andfollowing market movements may be secondary to these at most instants.Thus the present invention provides a parcel (referred to herein as aMarket Bar™ parcel) that the user may position at a desired location ona computer display screen, typically at the top or bottom, to providelimited information concerning a selected group of stocks. Such a bar isshown in FIG. 5 in which a bar in the form of a window 70 is subdividedinto a plurality of regions 70 a, 70 b, 70 c, as well as Monitors Viewicon 20″b and Charts View icon 20″c.

The user may select the number of subdivisions of the bar 70, up to somemaximum number of subdivisions, e.g., ten. In accordance with thepresent invention, the larger the number of subdivisions the less theamount of information presented in each, and vice versa. Thus in FIG. 5,the bar 70 is divided into three subdivisions, each of which presentsinformation identifying the subdivision window and its stock (“W1:NDX”,72 a); the current price 72 b of the indicated stock; its recent gain 72c from some reference point; and its percentage gain, 72 d.Substantially more information can be presented for a particular stockby displaying fewer stocks in the Market Bar parcel. As was the casewith the Monitors View and Charts View panels, the user can rapidlyswitch among these and the Market Bar panel simply by clicking on theappropriate icon.

CONCLUSION

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an improvedinterface for financial analysis systems that facilitates real timemonitoring of market conditions for a portfolio of stocks. The interfacepresents three different panels, at the selection of the user, providingdifferent forms or views of data with respect to a selected portfolio ofstocks or other financial instruments. The user can rapidly cycle amongthese by activating (clicking on) an icon that brings the user directlyto the desired panel. Further, the user can quickly retrieve additionaldata for a given stock from any of a wide variety of sources selectableby him or her simply by activating (e.g., clicking on) an Instant Databutton. Thus, the extent, type and time of data presentation is in fullcontrol of the user.

It should be understood that the foregoing description is illustrativeonly and of a preferred embodiment. It will be understood that theinvention is not limited to the described embodiment herein, and thatvarious changes and adaptations may be made to it without departing fromthe spirit or scope thereof.

1. An apparatus to display an interface for a financial analysis systemcomprising: a computer having a display screen, the computer configuredto display on the display screen a first panel formed from a pluralityof first windows stacked either vertically or horizontally or both, thefirst windows arranged in a non-overlapping manner such that each firstwindow is visible simultaneously to a user, each first window configuredto display therein, in alphanumeric form, financial data correspondingto one of a plurality of different financial instruments, each differentfinancial instrument individually chosen by the user, the first windowsfurther configured to be updated from a remote data source to displayreal time data therein, a second panel configured to correspond to thefirst panel, the second panel configured to be displayed when activatedby a single user action, the second panel configured to present aplurality of second windows, the second windows arranged in anon-overlapping manner such that each window is visible simultaneouslyto the user, each second window representing a separate graphic viewcorresponding to one of the plurality of different financialinstruments, and each second window configured to display, at least inpart, the same financial data as displayed in a corresponding one of thefirst windows, and at least one icon configured to cause, when selected,retrieval from a different remote data source of additional data relatedto the financial data presented in the first and second panels for aselected financial instrument of the plurality of different financialinstruments, the additional data retrieved by construction of a uniformresource locator (URL) including a first portion of the URL specific tothe different remote data source, and a second portion of the URLspecific to the selected financial instrument, the additional dataretrieved by access to the constructed URL.
 2. The apparatus accordingto claim 1 in which the computer is further configured to receive aselection from the user of the different remote data source to beassociated with the at least one icon to thereby define the differentremote source from which the additional data is to be retrieved onselection of the at least one icon.
 3. The apparatus according to claim2 in which the additional data is retrievable at least in part from thedifferent remote data source over a public switched telephone network.4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the computer is further configuredto display on the display screen: a plurality of user-selectablefunctions for analysis of financial data, wherein the user-selectablefunctions are selectable to operate upon the financial datacorresponding to one or more of the plurality of different financialinstruments.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the financial data ineach first window of the plurality of first windows is updatable from adifferent remote data source.
 6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein atleast one remote data source is accessible over the Internet.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein each first window is configured to displayprice movements of one of the plurality of different financialinstruments in alphanumeric form, and each second window is configuredto display a chart graphically depicting price movements of one of theplurality of different financial instruments.
 8. A computer-implementedmethod for operating an interface for a financial analysis systemcomprising the steps of: displaying, on a display screen of a computer,a first panel formed from a plurality of first windows stacked eithervertically or horizontally or both, the first windows arranged in anon-overlapping manner such that each first window is visiblesimultaneously to a user, each first window displaying therein, inalphanumeric form, financial data corresponding to one of a plurality ofdifferent financial instruments, each different financial instrumentindividually chosen by the user; updating the first windows from aremote data source to display real time data therein; linking the firstpanel to a corresponding second panel; displaying, on the display screenof the computer, the second panel when activated by a single useraction, the second panel presenting a plurality of second windows, thesecond windows arranged in a non-overlapping manner such that eachwindow is visible simultaneously to the user, each second windowrepresenting a separate graphic view corresponding to one of theplurality of different financial instruments, and each second windowdisplaying, at least in part, the same financial data as displayed in acorresponding one of the first windows; receiving a selection of afinancial instrument of the plurality of different financialinstruments; retrieving from a different remote data source additionaldata related to the financial data presented in the first and secondpanels for the selected financial instrument, the additional dataretrieved by construction of a uniform resource locator (URL including afirst portion of the URL specific to the different remote data source,and a second portion of the URL specific to the selected financialinstrument, the additional data retrieved by accessing the constructedURL; and displaying the additional data in a third panel, on the displayscreen of the computer.
 9. The method of claim 8 further comprising thestep of: providing at least one user-selectable icon for retrieving theadditional data, from the different remote data source data.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising the step of: associating thedifferent remote data source with the at least one icon to therebydefine the different remote source from which the additional data is tobe retrieved on selection of the at least one icon.
 11. The method ofclaim 8 wherein the additional data is retrieved, at least in part, fromthe different remote data source over a public switched telephonenetwork.
 12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of:analyzing financial data in response to selection of a user-selectablefunction, the user selectable function causing analysis of financialdata corresponding to one or more of the plurality of differentfinancial instruments.
 13. The method of claim 8 further comprising thestep of: updating the financial data in each first window of theplurality of first windows from a different remote data source.
 14. Themethod of claim 13 wherein at least one remote data source is accessedover the Internet.
 15. The method of claim 8 further comprising thesteps of: configuring each first window to display price movements ofone of the plurality of different financial instruments in alphanumericform; and configuring each second window to display a chart graphicallydepicting price movements of one of the plurality of different financialinstruments.